Liiiitle bit early with the update (by a whole week) but I figured since I took so long to even publish this that the least I could do was update early, amirite? Also just a reminder, which this update I will be deleting the old version of the story.
We get a bit of a slow start here but hopefully the next few chapters speed things up a little. Also, great big thank you to everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed! It's good to know the story still has people wanting to see Yu's journey after how long I was gone lol
I also answered this in a PM but I figured I'd post it here for anyone else wondering. Right now, the closest faceclaim I can think of that matches Yu is Chloe Bennet with shorter hair. If I find one that works better I'll update you all on it, but for now that's the best match for her!
Chapter One
It'd been a while since she'd last gone on an early morning run. All that time laying in a bed, walking around cautiously on a crutch, left her legs almost aching for action. Even after she'd been given the okay to walk on her own and perform more strenuous tasks like running and jumping, something always kept her from going out on her own. If it wasn't Jocelyn hovering over her like she did Clary, it was Clary insisting Yu take her with her "just in case". As much as it was starting to get on her nerves, part of her was happy they cared.
But it still got on her nerves.
Finally awake before either Fray that morning, Yu was quick to change into her tracksuit and sneak down the stairs of the brownstone apartment. Not even Madame Dorothea heard her go past—though then again, Dorothea never cared to know what the Frays or Yu were up to on any given day. On a normal day she'd ride her bike over to the nearest park—which happened to be Central Park—but given the lack of bike on Yu's part, she was forced to settle for the blocks around and beyond the brownstone.
The sun was barely rising but people were already preparing for work. A rare few were doing the opposite, blearily opening their doors with red eyes from drinking or yawns from the graveyard shift. The night owls turning in, the morning people taking their places. This was one of Yu's favourite things to witness of a morning.
After she was a good distance from the brownstone, she broke into a light jog. Her sneakers scuffed twice against the pavement before they fell into a silent rhythm beneath her. No one bothered to watch the kid who moved past them at a moderate rate. It was normal for this time of the morning for joggers to come out. Yu was just enjoying it more than usual, satisfied by the fresh morning air hitting her face as she slowly gained speed. Eventually her jog turned into a run, and then Yu was well on her way on a new route.
Alone time like this was what Yu looked forward to upon waking up. People could be overwhelming sometimes, and Yu was naturally more on the quieter side. She may have been the most outspoken of her friends—more than the stubborn Clary or the musicians she spent so much time with—but at the end of the day, even Yu needed to find time for herself. "Me time" just happened to be right at the start of the day for her.
She arrived at a somewhat busy intersection, occupied by a small number of people patiently waiting for the light to turn green. A few of them were joggers like her, a few early morning commuters who had to get somewhere before nine. Yu leaned her hands against her knees as she regained her breath and waited with them; there was a dull ache in her leg, probably due to the amount of time it took to even get back into her routine.
Another person stopped beside her, occupied with something in his hand. It hummed and hummed, almost vibrating like a phone. Yu glanced up at him, hoping to get a peek at what he was so focused on—but she soon found herself distracted by his appearance. He was handsome—stupidly handsome—with almost flax curls framing his face. Yu wasn't really one to fall for a pretty face unless it was a girl's, but this boy might have proved to be an exception. But the pleasing features weren't all that held her attention; no, the part of him that intrigued her most was the tattoos lining his arms and peeking over the collar of his v-neck, so dark that they looked almost like they were burned onto his skin rather than inked in.
A pair of tawny eyes fell on her then, having noticed her stare. He kept her gaze for a few seconds, eyes narrowing in thought, before his brows raised. Yu cleared her throat softly and stood up straight again. The device in his hand just kept humming.
"Sorry," she mumbled. "Didn't mean to stare. I like your tattoos."
She pointed meekly to his arm, and immediately an amused smile broke out across his face. He looked almost like he was about to start scheming something—it was the same look Erkan Burakgazi, in all his middle-aged glory, would get whenever he was told not to embarrass Yu during outings.
"Thanks," he said slowly. He glanced down at his device and waved his arm about. The device hummed louder as he moved it towards his right. "Most people don't notice them."
Without another word to her, he turned on his heel and ran straight into traffic. Yu gawked after him, hand flying to her mouth as she watched him weave around cars and deftly avoid a grisly fate. It was like he didn't have a single care in the world, too focused on the humming of his device and what direction he should go. No one called out after him, either; none of them even noticed he existed.
The lights changed, the crowd moving forward hurriedly to get to their destinations. Yu jumped and quickly followed. She didn't want to waste time spent crossing on a boy who clearly knew what he was doing. Even if what he was doing was dangerous.
It wasn't unusual for jaywalkers to be out and about. New York was always going to be filled with them, just as it was always going to be filled with reckless drivers and the bustle of urban living. Accepting that it happened was easy enough when you grew up in New York almost all your life. Imagining it as something that wouldn't backfire because people were lucky was harder. It wasn't just the jaywalkers Yu was having trouble watching face the streets—the cars were rubbing her the wrong way, their insistent honks and revving engines making her stomach churn. The thought of one of them suddenly changing direction and hurtling towards her again… Well, it was an understatement to say she was eager to stay out of hospital for a long time.
The biggest problem with her newfound unease was definitely how much it affected her running. She'd slow down every so often, fingers twitching at the sight of traffic lights and crossings; she couldn't keep up a rhythm with all the engines roaring around her, nor with all the daredevils who had better things to do than wait at a pedestrian crossing.
At the very least, there was a small construction area she could cut through to get to the park. No activity—most likely due to the hour of the morning it was—and definitely no cars, which put Yu in a somewhat calmer state upon spotting it. Everyone seemed to be ignoring the makeshift path that had been set up between the site and the apartment complex next to it, which meant that Yu would be free to wander on her own and catch her breath.
One foot in front of the other. She kept her chant of left, right, left, right going through her mind as she banked right and jogged on the spot at the next set of lights. One minute. Two. Finally a flash of green appeared and told her to move. She crossed with a speed that bordered on sprinting, passersby ignoring her still. Yu's feet were finally planted firmly on the pavement once more and her anxiety soon faded to the back of her mind. The morning walks she loved were coming back slowly.
True to her expectations, the construction area was absolutely abandoned. No one was even emerging from the walled path beside it. Yu beamed at the sight of it and jogged along the shaded path without a second thought.
Normally Yu wouldn't take a risky path on her own like this, especially without a phone to call for help or a pocket knife to defend herself. Her house was closer to Central Park than the Frays' brownstone apartment, and most of the people who frequented Central were dog owners that stopped her on occasion to ask about Elmo. She was usually in a safe place, like Erkan and Izumo always demanded she be whenever she went out on her own—after all, for all the height and bulk she carried there was always someone bigger and badder that was waiting for the right moment to strike. But after all the trips she'd made with Simon and Clary downtown and all the nights they walked home late without getting mugged, Yu liked to think nothing bad would happen. It was still too early in the morning for creeps to come out from the woodworks. Still too early for a young girl like herself to worry about getting jumped in an alley.
There was a patch of sunlight shining around the corner, probably peeking through the apartments behind the site. Yu looked along the building beside her for any signs of windows or plants, wondering if anyone would ever take advantage of the light around now. Small potted flowers would look pretty along the sidewalk, she thought to herself; it was just a shame that no one seemed to want to add a bit of personality to the area.
Yu paused once she reached the patch of sun, throwing out her arms to take in the warmth. She hadn't realised how cold a shaded area could be until the warmth had returned. She unzipped the jacket of her tracksuit and shook out her leg a little. It didn't take long for her to warm up as she stood there, though she knew the warmth would disappear soon enough once she continued on the path. The sunlight only lasted for a few feet, and then it was back to a path in the shade that continued on until an opening towards the next street.
She let out a huff and took a step forward. Just as her foot touched the ground once more, a loud thud sounded out near her. Yu stared down at the foot in disbelief—had that been her? No, it couldn't have been. She certainly didn't have enough weight to her to make the ground feel as though it shook upon impact. Maybe something had fallen down behind her? Yu scrunched up her face and looked over her shoulder, hoping that was the case.
She expected to see a big pile of clothes or something like a tire, but she definitely did not expect the oversized Doberman that glared right back at her. Yu blinked once, twice—that couldn't be an actual dog, could it? It was almost as big as her, like those Russian dogs that were bred to hunt bears!
It wasn't just its size that made her question the dog. As she turned on her heel to look at it fully, it started to raise its hackles and snarl at her. Red eyes—red, glowing eyes—just watched her like a threat, and its tail—its impossibly spiked and studded tail—lashed left and right behind it. Yu took a cautious step backwards, swallowing a lump in her throat. The dog-thing just snarled louder and moved forward to keep up with her.
"You're a big boy," she cooed nervously. The dog-thing just get snarling, slobber dripping from its very sharp teeth. "W—Where's your owner?"
It let out a bark, and Yu swore it sounded otherworldly. It echoed through the air like a horn, deep and powerful and commanding. Shut up, the bark demanded. I don't like you.
She knew enough about dogs to know when one was unfriendly. With a silent prayer that the large legs on the canine weren't enough to carry its gargantuan body in a chase, Yu turned on her heel again and sprinted down the path. She was barely halfway to the opening to begin with, and with her luck she'd have to climb up and over the chain link fence separating the construction site from the rest of the world just to get away.
Large paws thundered after her, before it stopped abruptly and began to whine and whimper in agony. Yu slowed her run to turn back around, see what the hubbub was, and was treated to an even more curious sight than the dog itself. Its paws and face were sizzling—burning, almost—with each attempt it made to cross the patch of sun blocking its path to Yu. She watched in amazement as its coarse black fur seemed to bubble and boil each time the light hit it, almost like it was lethal to the dog. Yu let out a wheeze, thankful for the sunlight's protection, and set off on a jog down the path. She didn't have to run for her life now, especially with the sun out.
Except that she did—as soon as the discovery was made, clouds drifted in front of the sun and covered up that one little lifeline she had left. Before Yu could even find the energy to break into another sprint, she heard the pounding of the dog's paws against the pavement behind her. It took mere seconds for the dog to catch up to her, and she was given just one to whirl on her heel and prepare for a scuffle.
On a normal day Yu would just scream at the top of her lungs for help. Beg for someone in the apartment to get the dog off of her. But today was different—today there was something primal in the back of her mind, urging her on feverently. Fight it, fight it, fight it. Flight was not an option—not an instinctual one, at least.
Her fingers twitched as the dog leapt at her, jaws opened impossibly wide and aiming right for her upper body. Yu braced herself, hands flying up as her feet skidded across the pavement. She was aware of an immense pressure along her shoulders and arms, the pain of sharp teeth digging into her palms. But all Yu could focus on was the fact that she'd just caught this dog by the mouth, and was now holding it at bay by the jaws. No matter how hard the dog tried, it couldn't chomp down on her hands and make her regret her life choices; instead it whined again, unable to fight back against her grip.
Yu wasn't able to freak out quick enough over the situation. As quickly as she'd stopped it, her hands flew outwards alongside the dog's face and jaw. It howled—God, it hurt her ears—and scuttled a few feet away from her. Its jawbone lay pitifully on the ground near Yu, sizzling like the dog had when it tried to cross the patch of sun. As the dog shook its head, tongue wagging about wildly, and Yu held her hands close to her shirt in pain, the jawbone burned away into nothing. All that was left behind was the smallest stain of ash against the pavement.
"What the actual hell?" Yu gasped. The primal instinct was fading fast, fear taking over as the sight of her now bloodied hands brought her back to reality. What the hell did she just do? Why wasn't she running, or calling for help? What in the world was this dog-thing?
She froze on the spot then, her legs turning to jelly even as she realised that the dog was coming back for a round two. The opening to the next street was just ten, maybe fifteen feet away. She could make it back into the sun, she thought desperately. She could outrun it now that it was hurt, she tried to convince herself. But her legs were stuck, suddenly weighing a ton and refusing to budge. Whatever strength had just torn this dog's jaw from its face had vanished, right when she needed it most.
Yu broke out into a cold sweat as the dog reared back in preparation to pounce. She really wanted to avoid going back to hospital so soon after getting out—and getting some kind of facial reconstruction surgery if she survived the attack didn't sound like a fun time on top of rehab. Her fingers dug painfully into the wounds on her palms. With her breath caught in her throat, Yu squeezed her eyes shut and simply waited for the dog to land on her.
But it didn't. Instead it let out the most horrific howl that she was sure even people in the next state over would hear, and then it faded into silence as a sizzling sound took over. She was hesitant to open her eyes, scared that she'd jinx her freedom if she took a peek. Even as she heard footsteps—normal, regular footsteps—move towards her, she refused to open her eyes.
A finger tapped her shoulder almost playfully. She squeaked, flicked out her fingers, and felt the blood fly off her fingertips.
"Don't mean to assume," a male voice, familiar enough for her to put a face to it, said, "but did you rip off its jaw?"
Yu's eyes fluttered open slowly. She didn't dare expect anything when she saw what was in front of her; after the last time she made an assumption of what was near her, she couldn't risk it. Even as she was met with that stupidly handsome face and those striking tattoos, she didn't dare assume it was the very same boy she'd spoken to mere moments ago.
Her hands shook as she lifted them for inspection. His question went ignored for a few seconds, a very clear sign of annoyance on his face as his eyebrow quirked. The palms were well and truly torn open, red around the wound and bleeding at a slow but thick pace. If Yu looked carefully enough, she could see each individual hole that the dog's teeth had made.
When she looked back at the boy, she couldn't shake the fact that his eyes were an unnatural shade of amber.
"I think I did," she wheezed.
He nodded, annoyance now replaced with curiosity. He looked her up and down, stroked his chin with contemplation, before circling around her once. After a painful moment of being put under examination, he asked, "You're mundane?"
Yu blinked. "What?"
He nodded again. "Definitely mundane." He circled her again, and this time she actually paid attention to her surroundings. The dog's disappearance hadn't clicked until just now, but like with its jaw all she could find was a dark stain against the pavement. "But then again," the boy mused to himself, "no mundane could do that to a hellhound. Let alone survive a fight with one."
Yu glanced over her shoulder at him. She looked him up and down, and it took everything in her to ignore the empty sheath at his belt. If he had a sheath, then where was the knife? How did she not notice it at the crossing? "That wasn't a hellhound," she scoffed. "It was... "
She shrugged. He looked at her with that amused smirk again, begging her to come up with something.
"It was just a big dog with a bad temper," she decided.
He chuckled and shook his head. "You just summed up a hellhound in one sentence. Good job."
"Hellhounds aren't real," Yu added.
The boy simply ignored her, instead turning his attention back to the stain on the pavement. He walked over with ease and bent down in front of it, and when he stood back up he was inspecting something with a frown.
"You're not serious," Yu scoffed. "This is a prank or something. Ashton Kutcher is going to poke his head out a window and tell me I've been punk'd."
He turned back at her when she said that. His expression was a hilarious mixture of horror, confusion, and amusement—each one took over his face right after the last, before finally they all stuck in place.
"Don't know him or what 'punk'd' means," he said slowly, "but that's not going to happen." Before she could so much as argue again, he shoved the charred item in his hand into the sheath and said, "It's daylight, so vampire is out of the question. Most faeries don't have the strength to do that—" he looked over at the patch the jaw had left behind— "and you don't seem to have a warlock mark anywhere." He looked her up and down again, then seemed to appear satisfied with his next question. "You haven't been bitten by any large, feral dogs lately, have you?"
Before she could even stop herself, Yu scrunched up her face and lifted her palms for him to see.
"Before today," he clarified.
"Does a domesticated dog count?" Elmo certainly had his moments, after all.
He snorted at her. "Does this domesticated dog only stay during the full moon?"
"Oh my God, you ass." Yu threw her hands up in the air. "I'm not a werewolf—they aren't even real, for crying out loud. What is wrong with you?"
He walked back over to her this time. Those gold eyes were right in her face, pushing into her personal space and making her all too aware of how long his eyelashes were. Yu stumbled backwards, almost tripping over her own feet in the process.
"I think the better question," he muttered, "is what's wrong with you?"
And that's chapter one! Let me know what you all thought, and I hope to see you all again in a fortnight for chapter three. Hopefully if I get enough chapters written up in that time I can switch to weekly updates instead of fortnightly, but we'll have to see :)
